PWA Fuerteventura Grand Slam - Wind teases competitors on day 2

by Chris Yates on 27 Jul 2014 Day two of the Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam, hosted by René Egli, saw a pause in the action as the wind teased the competitors for much of the day. At 12pm it looked as though we would see another afternoon of racing, but unfortunately a thick layer of cloud soon disrupted the wind, despite the breeze threatening to return in the early evening, suitable conditions never quite materialised. Having been on hold for the entire day, the sailors were eventually released at 5:30pm.

With plenty of down time throughout the day we caught up with our current event leader Matteo Iachino (Fanatic / North):

PWA: What setup were you on yesterday and how was yesterday for you?

MI: 'I was on my 110l Fanatic Falcon and my 7.8m North Warp. It was really good. The course was nice with a long first reach like usual in Fuerte, followed by a short tight second leg. It was quite tough to come out of the first gybe in a good position, which made for some challenging racing because you needed to point higher straight away and quick acceleration was crucial.'

PWA: As the current event leader, do you feel like that puts more pressure on you?

MI: 'Erm, at the moment I’m feeling super happy, I know it’s still only the beginning of the event. Today we had no wind, but it likes like from tomorrow onwards the wind is going to blow again, so there will be plenty more racing. I have a bit of pressure, but I’m already happy to be in this position so I think I only have something to win and nothing to lose.'

PWA: How did you prepare for the season over the winter?

MI: 'I spent the winter in Tenerife, from November to mid March. There I was doing lots of testing because I changed sponsors over the winter, so I needed to test my new Fanatic boards and North Sails, which I was really happy with. I was also training with Mark Hosegood (Sparky) like many of the other guys on the PWA World Tour and I think that helped me a lot. After Tenerife I went to Maui for the first time, which was amazing, to test the new equipment for next year, as well as training with my teammates Marco Lang (Fanatic / North) and Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / North) and many of the NeilPryde guys.'

PWA: As well as slalom, you are also into surfing?

MI: 'Yeah, I really love it, I have done it for many years with my friends in the North of Italy. In the winter time we get proper swells. I think it’s good training as well as being a lot of fun.'

PWA: Thanks, Matteo and good luck for the rest of the event.

The forecast for tomorrow looks good, so we should see the return of more frantic slalom on the water. The skippers’ meeting has been called for 10am tomorrow morning with the action commencing from 10:30am. PWA World Tour